Emerging media from the borderlands of Jewish identity

Reflections

Everywhere, everyday, refections appear in mirrors, water, windows, and so on. It seems though, that these images of ourselves looking back at us from these numerous surfaces, doesn’t seem to have a meaning. So often do people just glance to see if their hair is fixed right or if their tie needs adjusting, and looking at everything in the reflection but what’s important. Themselves.

Reflections provide you with a chance to stop for a moment, and question yourself. Is this who I want to be? Do I like who I am? Could I be better? All these questions come up when I see my reflection. Looking at yourself and evaluating that image in that reflection is probably one of the hardest things to do.

My maternal Grandfather was very into this idea of self evaluation in mirrors. His house had a wall made completely of mirrors.

A reflection goes deep

When my grandfather passed away in 2008 I heard for the first time, his favorite poem in it’s entirety, “The Man in the Glass”, by Dale Wimbrow.

“When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to a mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that man has to say…

He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest.
For he’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed the most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend…

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years.
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be the heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass”.

Verses one, three, and five have always stood out to me. He always would recite lines from these and I would always think light of them. It wasn’t until his death that these took on more meaning. This idea of reflections continued to appear. In the poem, in the mirrors of his house, in the pictures from years past, I saw him in everything and I began to look at myself just as he used to.

I always felt that he wanted me to not have to be the man in the glass, because he often said he felt like he was. To do that, he gave me a guidebook, a blessing at my Bar Mitzvah:

His blessing changed my life. By following his words, I have been able to look at myself in the mirror and not be the man in the glass. But like everything else that’s precious, maintaining it’s shine is always difficult. As I begin to explore the reflections of my grandfather I hope to discover more about how and why these images of ourselves are so important…

HALF-REMEMBERED STORIES

In July 2010, we will be rolling out a multi-media exhibition about lost people, lost places, and the quest to reclaim lost memory. In preparation for this exhibit, we've invited 16 young Jews, ages 15 to 25, to blog.